Amazon Warriors
by Atilia Dawn Black
Summary: Tenna is in Georgia for her Bachelorette party with her 4 best friends when the crap hits the fan and the dead start walking. Her and her friends have to learn to survive in this new harsh world. Things won't be easy, but if they can survive long enough, they will become warriors. OC centric fic. Won't see Rick's group for a long time
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: Graphic! Explicit! Mature Audience Only. If you watch The Walking Dead (which I do not own) you're probably used to gore and such, but here's your warning anyways. Sexual content, explicit sexual content in later chapters.**

 **Amazon Warriors**

"So, we're just minding our own business, walking home from the bar, it'd been shut down early because of all this shit starting up, and we were passing this alley. And right there in plain sight, there was this girl giving a guy a bj. I thought this would be hilarious to record, so of course I did. So, here we are, watching this gal go to work on his tiny little ding-a-ling and he's just moaning his head off, oblivious to the world and to us. Then, here comes this meth-head stumbling down the alley. And I thought 'this is going to be hilarious' when this gal bent down to get in on the action with this other girl, this was going to be this guy's dream come true, two girls fighting over his schlong. But the next thing I know, the meth-head had taken a huge bite out of the other girls face! And then the man started screaming bloody murder, and when the girl pulled back and fell down we found out why… She had bit his pecker off! Bit it right off! But even with all the noise he was making, I couldn't keep my eyes off the meth-head who just kept going back for bite after bite of this woman's face. Oh, God, it was dis-gus-ting! And that, my friends, is how we were introduced to the Apocalypse!"

As I sat there, staring out into the darkness, listening to Natalie tell these strangers our story of how our lives changed, I couldn't help but to think that this was all my fault.

TWD TWD TWD TWD TWD TWD TWD

The sun was shining, and I could feel the heat and humidity rising the further south we drove. It was a gorgeous day and me and three of my best friends were driving to Georgia to stay with another friend.

"So, what kind of unspeakable things are you going to get up to this week, huh? You have to get everything out of your system while you can. It's frowned upon to do it after you tie the knot."

I looked over at Natalie, who was looking back at me with a big smile on her face. I looked back at the road.

"That didn't stop you did it?" Lydia piped up from the back with a laugh.

"No, not really, but Tenna's too much of a goody-two-shoes to even think about it after she gets married. That's why we only have one shot to corrupt her."

I laughed, it was nice to know that at least one thing would never change, Natalie would always have sex on the brain.

Natalie, Lydia and I have been best friends since Kindergarten. Not that we had that much choice, there were only eight girls in our whole class, kinda slim pickin's. Most of the other girls had moved away through the school years and we never bothered trying to make friends with any newcomers, cause they never stayed. So it was just us for thirteen years.

Most people find it odd that we're best friends, cause we're so different. Natalie was boy crazy, just coasting through school with bare minimum effort. Lydia was valedictorian with a steady boyfriend, and she liked to have fun too. And me. I was the one who didn't study, but got good grades. I was also the awkward, antisocial bookworm who liked to party. A paradox, I know, what kinda antisocial person likes to party? Well, I did. The alcohol made me brave and less awkward, and kinda bumped me up to equal footing with the other two, social wise. And I liked that.

So, three best friends, as different as could be, growing up together on the outskirts of a rinky-dink one horse town. Then came college and we went our separate ways. Not getting to see each other near as often as we'd like. And that's where Rosie comes in, my new friend from college. We didn't have the same long history as the others, but we were good friends none the less.

"Well, if I was gonna do unspeakable things, I couldn't speak about them, now could I?"

Natalie rolled her eyes and gave a big dramatic sigh. "Oh, come on! Seriously? When have you ever kept a secret about any of your hot hookups, huh? Like, never, that's when! I tell you all about mine. In fact, there's been a few I need to fill you in on."

And she did. We spent the rest of the ride talking about all the things we needed to catch up on after not seeing each other for a few months. Plenty of those things were about Natalie's crazy hookups she'd had behind her new husband's back, and she made sure not to leave anything to the imagination.

Soon enough we reached where we were going. A little three bedroom house in the middle of a small suburb. It didn't take three seconds for the door to fly open when we knocked and a short bundle of energy to fly out the door and tackle me in a hug. "Oh, you're here! You're here! Yay! I've been so excited for this! There's so much to do, I can't wait to get started! This is going to be the best Bachelorette party ever!

Amanda was going a mile a minute, and the only reason I could keep up with what she was saying was cause I'd had a lot of practice with Natalie and Lydia getting excited.

"Wait! Calm down! You're gonna give yourself a heart attack! I've missed you too!"

Amanda was someone I'd only known for the last year or so, and we didn't see each other often, but we'd hit it off and became fast friends and I was so happy to see her.

Once we got all settled into our rooms and got freshened up, Missouri was a good long car ride away, we got to planning our stay. All the sights we wanted to see and where we wanted to go during the day, and also the really important stuff… What bar or nightclub we were going to grace with our presence at night.

 **AN: My first story ever! So, an introductory to the apocalypse, and some background to our main characters. Let me know if my writing style is okay and easy to read.**


	2. Chapter 2

The first two days were filled with laughter and fun, and yes, a certain degree of naughtiness, dirty dancing, and alcohol. So far I'd managed to avoid doing anything "unspeakable." Well, I may have made out with a guy on a drunken dare, but as soon as the dare was fulfilled I gave him a smile and a wave, leaving him to wonder what the heck had just happened. But on the third day Amanda's husband called and told her to watch the news, that there was starting to be a bunch of riots and upset in a lot of the bigger cities, and even though it wasn't close to us, that we should still be careful when we went out. He also told her that he was being sent to Fort Benning and that he might end up being sent on to Atlanta to help out.

After watching the news and talking it over with the girls, we decided we needed to cut our vacation a little short, we'd go out tonight and have a last night of fun, then leave in the morning.

We went out to a bar that wasn't very far from Amanda house. We were partying hard to make up for cutting our trip short. We were already three sheets to the wind, out dancing with each other on the barely there dance floor that probably hadn't been used in years. We were decked out in the typical raunchy Bachelorette fashion: skimpy skintight clothes, and a variety of penis paraphernalia, such as penis necklaces, penis shot glasses, and penis straws. All eyes in that small dingy bar were on us and we were loving it.

I was in the middle of a particularly dirty dance with Rosie where we were grinding on each other something awful, when my eyes wondered across the room and landed on a man who was sitting at the bar, drinkin' a beer. He was one fine specimen of a man. The other girls wouldn't think so, they were more into the preppy type of men with the perfectly styled hair and name brand clothes, and this man was nothing like that. He had dirty blonde hair that was a little shaggy, some white trash scruff on his face, and clothes that would not look out of place in a garage with all the oil stains on them. For some reason my drunken mind latched on to this man as being the best thing since sliced bread.

As if he could sense my stare, he looked over at the five of us dancing, scanning over us until his eyes met mine. I couldn't look away, and with every dip and grind I was doing with Rosie, I kept my eyes glued to his. And he never looked away either. As the song came to an end we finally broke eye contact. The other girls started dancing to the next song, but I made a motion to tell them I was getting another drink.

I walked over to the bar and sat down on the empty barstool next to that mysterious stranger.

"Bartender, I'll have a Jack and Coke!" I yelled, trying to get him to hear me over the music. I glanced over at the stranger beside me. "I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm getting married in a couple weeks."

He looked over at me, eyeing me from head to toe, stopping briefly at my breasts, which were only barely contained by my shirt. Or he might have been eyeing my bright pink sash with the words 'Bachelorette' emblazed on it. Who knew?

"I hadn't noticed." He snorted with a slight grin.

I grinned back at him, "yeah, I was going for subtle, I think I pulled it off." I took a sip of my drink. "I'm supposed to be going wild and crazy, gettin' it all outta my system before I tie the knot. Sowin' my wild oats and stuff. Apparently it's frowned upon once you're married." I said with a smirk.

"Ya got some oats that need sowin'?

I stared back at him, looking him up and down from his worn out work boots to his bulging biceps and back up to his eyes. For all that was holy I could not stop the next words from coming out of my mouth, even though I knew it was wrong and I'd regret it come morning. "I might, you wanna help me out?"

I saw the fire in his eyes when I said this, so I stood up and started walking to the back of the bar, running my hand up his arm over his muscles as I went by. He stood up to follow me and my eyes went over to the dance floor to check on my friends. They were still dancing without a care in the world. The only one to notice me was Natalie and all she did was give me a wink and a hand signal to have him suit up. Typical Natalie. We wove our way through the crowd coming to a hallway that cut behind the bar leading to the bathrooms, a broom closet, and an office.

As soon as we were out of sight I twirled around toward him, I think I caught him off guard because he gave a startled jerk back before catching himself. I didn't give a second thought before practically jumping this man whose name I didn't even know. I grabbed his shoulders to steady my drunken self before going in for the kill. I leaned up, meeting his lips with mine, fire burning where our lips touched and where his hands were tracing down my back to rest on my ass, squeezing and kneading the ample flesh available.

I couldn't stop my hands from wandering, over his strong arms, across his chest, and down over his very slight beer gut that couldn't disguise his powerful ab muscles underneath. And I was helpless to stop my hands from inching lower, over the belt, past the pockets, and BOOM, there it was. The bulge that I'd been looking for, just as proud and mighty as I'd hoped it'd be. Tingles raced through my body and shot between my legs. I was ready to tear his clothes off and ride him right there on the bar floor.

As if sensing my thought, or maybe he'd been having the same thought but also had the ability to do something about it, he started blindly groping behind himself, finally connecting with a door handle. We tumbled into the room, not really noticing anything around us, we could have stumbled into the office occupied by several people in a meeting wearing tutus and quacking like ducks and we'd have never noticed. His lips were on my skin, his hands moving to yank my shirt below my boobs. My hands were desperately, and a lot drunkenly, trying to undo his belt and jeans.

Finally, my hands struck gold, I now had my highly sought after prize in my hands. The man moaned and tensed up, freezing all other movement as if entranced with every twist and pull I was giving him. I looked up at his face, trying to get a feel for what he liked. He had a look on his face I couldn't quite place, but I was too drunk to try to figure out.

"Have ya got a rubber?" He jerked his head up and down, fumbling for his wallet, grabbing one with trembling hands.

I took it from him, not quite sure if the trembling was from nervousness for fucking a stranger, or anticipation for fucking a stranger. But I didn't have long to think about it, it was my turn to fumble because I wasn't the most skilled with applying a condom, but I managed and then sunk to my knees.

I've never in my life been so happy and exuberant in doing what I did on my knees in that lil ole broom closet in that dirty lil bar. And I probably never will again. The forbiddenness of what I was doing, with a stranger, just weeks before tying myself down with one man forever, was really making things exciting. Besides his breathing speeding up and very quiet breathy moans he made every now and then, he never made a sound, didn't tell me how he wanted it, just let me do my own exploring. Before he could get too close to cuming I stood up and I realized he'd never closed his eyes or taken them off of what I was doing to him. And that turned me on to a whole new level.

Before he could get confused as to what I was doing, I started to undo my shorts. It may have been super hot to suck him off, but that wasn't what I came here for. Once my shorts were down I gave him a scorching kiss, pulling him with me toward the shelves against the wall. When my back hit the shelves I pulled away and turned around putting my hands on a shelf and arching my back to stick out my ass. I gave him a sassy, and hopefully sexy as hell, look over my shoulder.

"Ya gonna sow some oats?"

Without preamble he grabbed my hips and shoved in with one go. I gave a yelp, definitely not what I was expecting, and he set a hard and fast pace, but I was so wet and turned on that it had me quickly reaching my peak. Which was good, cause it didn't take him long either. If we were sober I would have been a little embarrassed for him.

We didn't take long in getting ourselves straightened up, both of us blushing from what we'd done. I looked at him from the corner of my eye, "thanks for helping me get any wildness outta my system."

He gave a snort, "yeah, anytime." He looked like he was about to bolt now that things had gotten awkward. Before he could leave I blurted out "I don't even know your name."

"Does it matter? Won't ever see me again."

"I know, but I'd kinda like a name to associate with this memory, otherwise it'll drive me crazy."

He gave me a bewildered look, "you gonna be thinkin' 'bout it a lot?"

"Oh yeah, this ain't gonna leave my mind for a long time! And besides, tomorrow I'm headed back home to Missouri, it's not like I'm gonna use your name to be all stalkerish."

He looked down, I think he might of blushed harder, but I couldn't tell, "Call me George."

"Seriously? Your parents named you George and you live in Georgia? Your kidding me aren't you?"

He smirked.

"You little liar, you're just saying George because you live in Georgia aren't you, you sneak?" I laughed. So maybe he didn't really believe me that I wouldn't go all stalkerish on him. Oh well. I stuck my hand out with a big grin, "nice to meet ya… _George_ … I'm… Missy."

George laughed at me, "Missy from Missouri, got it."

About that time the music in the bar came to an abrupt stop. George and I gave each other a quick confused look and darted for the door. We were walking around the corner and back into the bar when I saw the Bartender up on the bar. "Hey, shut ya pipes! Alright, everyone, the bar's shutting down, I need everyone out, now! Don't worry about your tabs, I just want ya gone! The riots are getting too close to home, I just got a call that they're having some problems in the next town over. So get your asses outta my bar!"

I started looking for my friends, this was just great, we stay in town for one more night and crap starts up. We need to book it out of here. I spotted them beside the door and rushed over.

"Tenna! There you are, we've been looking for you! Where were you?" Rosie asked.

"I'll tell you later, let's worry about getting home. Did you call a cab?"

"I tried, but no one's answering," Amanda said, wringing her hands.

"They're probably getting overrun with calls, I bet everyone's shutting down since this stuff is getting close." Lydia always was the most sensible one.

"We're not that far from the house, it's only three miles, we could walk it. Probably faster than waiting for a cab to get around to us," said Amanda.

"Says you! You aren't the one wearing sky high fuck me boots!" Natalie screeched, not happy with the idea.

After some debate and the fact that the cab company still wasn't answering their phone, we decided to walk.

TWD TWD TWD TWD TWD TWD TWD TWD

"Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God!"

"What's happening? What was that?"

"She was eating her FACE!"

We all burst through the door panting. I couldn't breath, let alone talk. I was way out of shape and we had just run those three miles home, not stopping, just running in a blind panic, following Amanda home. You wouldn't think someone so short could run that fast. Even Natalie's sky high heels weren't a problem, she tore those suckers off and held them at the ready to use as a weapon on anyone that got too close to her. Lydia and Amanda were quick to do the same thing.

"I can't get through to Josh! Turn on the tv, find out what's going on" said Amanda.

I pulled out my flip phone and tried to call my parents to see if they were okay and because I was flipping my lid trying to understand what we had just saw. They answered on the fourth ring.

"Hello?"

"Dad! Oh my gosh, you won't believe what just happened! This lady just ate another girl's FACE off! We don't know what to do!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down. Tell me everything."

So I did, obviously leaving out any details I didn't think he needed to know. And I didn't think that anyone needed to know a man got his tally whacker bit off. I wish _I_ didn't know.

"And now we're freaking out, what do we do?" I asked my dad, fully expecting that he would have all the answers as to how to make everything better.

"Okay, listen, I know this isn't what you wanted to hear right now, but you need to hunker down for a little while. As bad as I want you home right now, I think it would be a bad idea. As soon as everyone hears about this they're gonna try to get somewhere they think is safer and the roads are gonna be impossible. You have to go through some big cities to get home and I don't want you getting stuck somewhere where you don't know anyone.

"So here's what you're gonna do, you're gonna stock up on food, canned stuff incase the power goes out. And water too, lots of it. Enough stuff to last about two weeks, surely by then they'll have all this under control. Look for a camp stove too. Then first thing in the morning you find a gun store, get a gun if you can. I don't know if they have a waiting period or not, but you at least try. Also, get a knife, a taser, pepper spray, anything you can use to defend yourselves. You're five girls all alone, people with think you're an easy target if they find out there's no men around, and you need to be ready to take care of yourselves if that happens. Don't worry about the cost, max out your credit cards if you have to, well figure it out later when you're back home, safe.

"And one last thing, get gas. As much as you can. Try to get enough so when you do come home, you won't have to stop very often at a gas station."

"Okay, Dad, I will. We'll start now." I took a deep breath. We have a plan. We can do this.

"Sis, I know this is scary, but you girls will be fine. You're smart, you can do this. Just be careful, get your stuff, hunker down and don't let anyone in. I love you, call us at least twice a day if you can."

"I will, love you too, tell everyone I love them and miss them."

I hung up the phone and looked at the girls, they had varying looks of terror on their faces. I took a deep breath and let it out. "Okay, here's what we're gonna do."


	3. Chapter 3

We immediately hopped in the car and went to the nearest open grocery store. Each of us grabbed a cart and we stocked up on what, in all honesty, was enough stuff to last us a month. Or more, if you counted all the junk food Natalie and Rosie tossed in. They had some fierce sweet tooths and I wasn't gonna be the one to get between them and their Oreos and Starbursts. That just wouldn't be safe.

We took so much time shopping, that by the time we were done we were able to go to a gun store that had just flipped the sign to open. The man behind the counter seemed pretty surprised to see five girls walk in without any guys.

Amanda's husband Josh had two guns, a pistol and a rifle, that we could use, but I wanted my own. Natalie wanted one too, but she couldn't afford it. I browsed the shelves, picking out a can of pepper spray and an eight inch guthook knife. Might as well get something that can be used to skin deer next deer season. My whole family are avid deer hunters, so the knife wouldn't go to waste. I moseyed on over to the guns and settled on a 9mm Glock, only to be told I had to have a state license to buy it. What the hell? Didn't he get the memo that people were eating faces and, therefore, regular rules did not apply?

Thankfully, Amanda came to my rescue, swooping in and buying it for me since she did have a Georgia license. She knew I would pay her back. The man behind the counter wasn't fooled, but he didn't much care, a sale was a sale, right? And it was technically legal, so all was good.

After getting all the necessary items to go with the gun, such as three boxes of bullets, a holster and a cleaning set, I checked out. Damn if this stuff still didn't make a dent in my poor-college-student bank account, even without paying for the gun right now. I was definitely going to be broke, and then some, by the time we made it home.

I made my way to the others. Natalie and Amanda both got knives and mace, but Lydia and Rosie only got mace, they couldn't stand the thought of actually hurting someone. Amanda also got a bunch of bullets for each of her guns. With all the guns and bullets we have we could probably just scare any would-be thieves away just with a crazy bit of shooting.

Right as we were getting ready to leave I glanced up and saw the prettiest thing I'd ever seen. It was a woman's compound bow, camo with hints of purple. It looked bad-ass as hell with all its sharp pointy curves and all the crazy equipment-I-knew-nothing-about attached to it. I looked at the price, _oh heck no_ , I wasn't paying that, no matter how awesome it looked. That was just as much as the gun. It wasn't practical, it's not like we'd need to go hunting or anything. And as much as I'd been around my family while they were practicing shooting bows, I'd never actually shot one. I had tried once, but hadn't even been able to pull the string back halfway, so I'd never tried again. But I'd always wanted to. I walked out, my mind going to more pressing matters that needed my attention.

We spent the rest of the day getting gas and other items they thought they might need to last a few weeks.

"Do you think this is all necessary?" Rosie asked. "You don't really think it could take that long to sort out some riots and crackheads, do you?"

"I don't know what to think," I said, "but it doesn't hurt to be prepared, does it?"

"It hurts my _wallet_. And I'm not sure anyone could be prepared for someone trying to take a chunk of their face," Natalie cut in snidely.

"Well, we are," I said. "Anybody comes within twenty feet of you, you warn them, within ten, you blast them in the face with mace. If that doesn't faze them, you pull your gun or knife and do what you have to do. Okay?"

Everyone looked at me. "You really think you could shoot someone, or stab them? You think you're ready to kill someone just because they got too close to you?" Lydia said. "I know I couldn't. I don't think I'd be able to live with myself if I did."

I saw on her face that she wouldn't budge on this, and Rosie was in agreement with her. I decided I'd just have to stick close to them, so if they ever did get in a tight spot I could help them out. I wouldn't be able to live with _myself_ if I let someone hurt them and I could have stopped it. I could live with the guilt of hurting a stranger a lot better than the guilt of letting a stranger hurt my friends. And it's not like we'd _actually_ have to kill someone. Just hurt them enough to make them stop and go away.

"Well, I don't have a problem with shanking someone if they come at _**my**_ face with their teeth chomping! It would be a crime against nature to disfigure _this_ gorgeous face!" Natalie said with a snobby look before bursting out laughing.

Everyone laughed with her, we'd been so tense since the night before that it felt good to loosen up a bit.

TWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWD

We spent the next few days in the house keeping one eye on the news and the other out the window to make sure our neighborhood hadn't gone crazy like so many others on the news had. Each day was more disturbing than the last. The news anchors said it was some sort of rabies like virus turning people mad. People were attacking each other in the streets, but instead of using weapons they were just using their hands and teeth, taking bites out of their victims. But the worst thing was the police and military force had no other option than to just open fire on all involved, trying to take out as many of the infected as they could… Even if it meant innocents had to die with them. It was a war zone and I couldn't believe I had decided to have a bachelorette party right in the middle of this.

Oh my gosh! I was here for a bachelorette party. I was supposed to be getting married in a week. I had forgotten all about Jason! What kind of person forgets about their fiancé? Granted we were in the middle of some kind of violent viral outbreak and had more pressing matters to think about, but still. And, _oh my gosh_ , I had cheated while here. I had completely forgot. The crazyness of that night had overtaken any thoughts about the man I had 'sown some oats with.' Thankfully, Natalie had also forgotten about the man I'd disappeared with or else everyone would be all up in my business, analyzing my life. I didn't want that right now, there was too much else to think about, but I didn't see this lasting forever. Soon enough, she'd remember and then she'd be ambushing me for information.

I hadn't even thought to call him. And, apparently, I hadn't crossed his mind either. _What the hell?_ Didn't he know what was going on down here? I was freaking out about people _eating each other._ What was his excuse? He should be ringing the phone off the hook to check up on me. I got my phone out, ready to call the asshole and set him straight on what a good fiancé should be doing in this situation, before remembering that I was, in fact, not a good fiancé either. Hmmm. Maybe I should just wait a while longer, let the guilt I just remembered I had fade away a bit before calling him. Yeah, avoidance, that was a good strategy.

TWD TWD TWD TWD TWD TWD TWD TWD TWD

A week into our self-confinement and it was becoming obvious that this was going to take longer than a couple weeks to sort out. And that's when the electric went out. The phones had went out the day before. So now all we had for news was a radio station that just played the same message over and over again. The Emergency Broadcast System kept saying that Atlanta was being set up as a Safe Zone.

We sat in the living room going over our options once again. It seemed like we did this at least once a day, we were arguing over what to do. Stay hunkered down, go to Atlanta, or go home. It was getting harder and harder every day to defend my position that we should stay. Every day we were hearing more and more gunshots that just kept getting closer.

"We need to go to Atlanta," Lydia said, her voice full of determination. "We need to be with other people, we'll be safer in a big group. Let the military take care of keeping us safe. What are we going to do if someone decides to break in here? Huh? Most of the neighbors have already left. Those that _are_ left are not going to risk their own necks to help us out."

I knew she was right, it was getting dangerous to stay, but the problem was that right now it was more dangerous to go. Just getting to Atlanta would mean driving through a lot of dangerous territory. We did not wanna get caught up in one of those 'riots.' Could you even call it a riot when no one was protesting? When it was just a bunch of people attacking each other?

"Josh wouldn't know where I was, he wouldn't be able to find me if we left. We can't go." Amanda was beside herself, she hadn't been able to reach her husband once since this whole thing started and it was tearing her up.

I butted in before Lydia could try to convince her we could look for Josh when we got to Atlanta. "It's too dangerous on the roads right now. _Everyone_ will be driving to Atlanta. It's gonna cause traffic jams and crashes. And did you forget that all the problems started out in big cities? Just 'cause Atlanta is safe now doesn't mean it'll stay that way. I think we should stay here until we absolutely can't anymore. We'll fortify the house up. Board up all the windows, barricade the doors. In the morning we can run to the hardware store."

"Yeah, that sounds good. We can ask if anyone's heard anything new. Get a feel for what's going on." Amanda said, happy to have a plan that involved staying home where Josh could find her.

 **AN: Hey, hope you like it. I'm still getting the feel for telling a story without just listing what's going on. So if anyone could drop me a line with how they feel about it, I'd appreciate it. I appreciate constructive criticism and even just regular criticism. Thanks for reading!**


	4. Chapter 4

After some more debate it was agreed that Lydia, Rosie and I would go to the store, leaving Amanda and Natalie to guard the house against thieves. Being five foot nothing and barely 100 pounds soaking wet, Amanda wouldn't be much help with heavy lifting. And Natalie wasn't known for picking up anything bigger than a Diet Coke, plus she'd be too worried about breaking a nail, and who knew when the next time she could get to a nail salon would be.

I strapped my knife, mace, and new gun to my belt for fast access. Maybe just the sight of all my hardware would scare people away from messing with us. Lydia and Rosie strapped on their mace, still not willing to take knives or a gun.

We drove to the nearest hardware store in Amanda's truck, keeping an eye on our surroundings. The streets were deserted, more people must have left than we thought. All the stores were closed, some had windows broken out and had clearly been robbed of high price items. We got to the hardware store and it looked virtually untouched, which we took as a good sign.

"It's locked up, do you think somewhere else is open?" Lydia asked, looking around like an open store would just pop up out of nowhere.

"Nope," I said as I got out of the truck. Lydia gave me a confused look, but followed my lead and got out too. "Rosie, you stay in the truck in case we need a fast getaway."

"You're leaving me here alone?"

"Yeah, and you better not get scared and leave without us." I said, only half joking because Rosie wasn't known for her bravery.

I dug around in Josh's toolbox in the back of the truck and pulled out a lug wrench. The doors were the same automatic glass doors most big stores have. I was hoping to be able to pry them open without having to resort to vandalism, but I'd already decided that I was getting through that door, one way or the other. Their insurance would take care of it.

I tried to get the crowbar end between the doors to pry them open, but it just wasn't happening. These doors were locked tight. I took a step back. Lydia was starting to look relieved about not getting into the building when I reared back and swung at the door.

"Oh my fuckin' hell! What the fuck?" My hands were aching from the recoil of the hit. The door was still there, only now it was decorated with spider web cracks. "How the heck can it be so hard to break glass?"

"I bet it's reinforced, you know, to prevent break in…"

I swung my head towards her, she was laughing! "Ya couldn't of revealed that lil bit of relevant information a lil sooner!?" I whispered harshly.

"You didn't exactly give me the chance to," she smirked.

Instead of replying, I reared back and swung again with all the strength I could muster. "FUUUUUDGE!" The crowbar still didn't manage to break through. It took three more whacks to barely make a tiny little hole. "I would make a horrible burglar, at this rate it'll take me to Christmas to get in here!" At this point in time I was getting a little angry with the door for giving me so much trouble and all I wanted now was to see this door in pieces at my feet. I swung again and again and again, chipping away at this hateful door that would not grant me access to somewhere I really needed to be. Finally after a few minutes of constant swinging and kicking at the door, I managed to make a hole big enough for us to crawl through, but before I did I looked at all the little broken pieces of glass, spit on them and said, "all you had to do was let me in, was that really so hard?"

Lydia was cackling by this point and I knew if I turned around I'd see Rosie doing the exact same thing from the truck, so I straightened my shoulders, scoffed at her and oh so elegantly crawled through the door. Lydia quickly followed, grabbing a trolley after she'd made it through.

"The plywood should be over that direction," Lydia said, "Let's hurry up and get out of here, this place is giving me the creeps."

I wouldn't say so, but it was creepy. A store this big shouldn't be so dark and empty. We found the plywood and started loading it onto the cart. After awkwardly loading up a half-dozen pieces or so we stopped to rest for a second.

"Oh my gosh, that's harder than I thought it'd be. Whose bright idea was it to put those on such a high shelf? A _man_! It had to be a man to come up with such a stupid place to put them! They should know short, strength-challenged women would have a hard time with that!"

I opened my mouth to agree with her, when I heard something. Someone was coming this way. Their shuffling walk was easy to hear once we stopped making so much noise of our own, and they were getting close. I grabbed for my gun. "Get your mace, if they get within distance you use it!" I whispered. Then I raised my voice, "Whoever's there, just go away, I have a gun and I'm not afraid to use it!"

I could hear my own anxiety in my voice, they must have heard it too, because instead of turning around, or even pausing for a second, they sped up coming at us faster. I could hear Lydia start to panic, her breathing getting faster and she was mumbling "ohmygosh, ohmygosh, ohmygosh!" But my focus was narrowed in on the end of the isle where our uninvited guest would soon be making an appearance.

Around the corner he came. I knew immediately that something bat-shit crazy was going on. This man's eyes were clouded over, he was missing a chunk of his forearm from what looked, disturbingly, like a human bite and he was walking on the side of one of his ankles. It looked like his foot had been severely broken, but he wasn't paying any mind to it. That wasn't even the most disturbing part, that honor would go to the fact that he was walking right for us snapping his teeth together like he wanted a bite of _us_!

I raised my gun, "STOP! Don't make me shoot you! We can help you! Just stay back!"

He didn't stop. He was closing in fast.

"Lydia, NOW!"

 **Psssssh**! She must have already been halfway squeezing the button, because the words weren't even out of my mouth before she was spraying him down, full blast.

He didn't stop…

He was ten feet away, not even shying away from the mace.

"I'm gonna shoot!"

His arms were reaching for us. He was closing in. I lowered my arms. **POW**! I shot him in his good leg and he fell to the floor, but his face never turned away from us. He never acted like he was in pain, he just got up and kept coming at us. I aimed higher. **POW**! I hit his belly. He gave a slight jerk from the impact of the bullet, but otherwise didn't react. Our feet were backing away.

The man ran into the cart, pausing just long enough for me to see that none of his wounds were bleeding. He kept chomping his blood covered teeth at us and _growling_ like an animal. He started crawling over the cart stacked with plywood, falling to the floor on the other side and stood up again. I was starting to panic, how the heck is he still standing? **POW**! **POW**! **POW**! The first shot went wide, pinging off a shelf. The other two hit his chest.

Nothing! Our backs were up against a wall, or more accurately a tall precarious stack of wood blocking the isle. My mind was in a blind panic, I couldn't comprehend what my eyes were seeing. He reached for Lydia, grabbing her by the shirt and pulling her towards his face, teeth clicking as he got closer. My body jumped into action without conscious thought. I jumped on the man's back throwing my arm around his throat to keep his mouth away from Lydia.

I wasn't strong enough, his mouth was inching towards her. **POW**! We all went crashing to the ground, Lydia on bottom, me on top, making a sandwich out of the dead man between us. I had one arm around the man's neck, the other was holding the gun that had just blown a huge hole in his head.

"Get him off me! _Get him off me, get him off, get him off!_ "

I jumped up and rolled the man off her, his arm flopping to the ground like a dead fish. "Are you okay? Did he hurt you?"

She patted herself down, "I think I'm okay, he didn't bite me. EWWWW, I'm covered in blood!" Lydia started frantically wiping her face on the bottom of her shirt. "Oh my gosh, Tennessee, what just happened? What was wrong with him? It was like he was indestructible! You shot him, like, a dozen times and, and, NOTHING!"

"Five…"

"What?"

"I shot him five times. The last one stuck." My voice sounded funny, even to me.

"Oh my gosh, Tenna, are you okay? What am I saying? Of course you're not okay! You just killed someone, you can't be okay. Let's go back to Amanda's, I don't want to be here anymore. The cops are going to be here any minute and they're going to see that we _broke in_ and were stealing stuff and that we murdered this guy for trying to stop us. They won't care that he was trying to bite my face off because we weren't supposed to be here anyways, they'll just see us as thieves and won't believe a thing we say! And then we're going to go to jail and never see the light of day again!" Lydia was breathing hard, trying to catch her breath after that long freak out.

I took a deep breath, picked up the collar of my shirt to wipe at the blood dripping off my chin, walked over to the cart and started pushing. "If the cops come, we'll deal with it then, but I doubt they will. They didn't come while I spent five minutes busting in the front door. We'll be fine. Come on, we still need 2x4s and nails." _Don't think about it. Don't think about it. Freak out later, don't think about it now._

Lydia started following me, only taking her eyes off the corpse when we turned the corner. "Tenna, you can't just act like this doesn't bother you! You just killed someone!"

"Yeah, I can act like it, 'cause I _have_ to! We gotta get our shit an' get outta here an' try not to run into any more of these sick asshats!"

 **AN: First run in with the infected! Hope you liked it!**


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